Tuesday, August 22, 2023

FILCOLS Joins Partners in QC's Inclusive White Cane Month Celebration for Readers with Print Disabilities

 


FILCOLS Joins Partners in QC's Inclusive White Cane Month Celebration for Readers with Print Disabilities


In support of making books accessible to those with a print disability, Regina Reyna "Reg" V. Pastor, membership officer of the Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society, Inc. (FILCOLS), addressed participants at the Quezon City executive hall during the White Cane Month event on August 14.


Reg Pastor explains the advantages of being a member of FILCOLS. 
Photo by Shai Gondra.


“Copyright is very important for creators,” said Pastor before the group composed of the visually impaired and their guardians, authors, publishers, and QC government staff. “The authors must be properly recognized like giving proper attribution and just remuneration if their works are used on a large-scale like photocopying and digital copying inside institutions.”


“For FILCOLS we protect the reproduction rights of authors so if you have a book, you may join us. Membership is free,” she added.


Candy Gourlay shares how she got rejected many times as a Filipino author in the UK.
Photo by Shai Gondra.


Award-winning author Candy Gourlay supported Pastor’s invitation and said she is also a member of a similar copyright society in the United Kingdom. The London-based author talked about her writing life and gave away CDs of her work “Tall Story” for the Quezon City Public Library.


White Cane Month is a national celebration made possible by RA 6759, a law crafted during the presidency of Corazon Aquino.


Candy Gourlay with the lucky participants who each received a copy of her book.
Photo by Shai Gondra.


The law aims to “promote and protect the physical, moral, and social well-being of all handicapped persons, such as the blind, and to undertake studies on specific causes of the high percentage of blind people in the Philippines.”


QC executive hall with participants celebrating White Cane Month.
Photo by Shai Gondra.


FILCOLS is one of the groups tapped by Wowie Catabijan, FILCOLS trustee and Kahel Press officer, to coordinate the event's organization to celebrate White Cane Month. The other groups are Kahel Press, Bookshare Philippines, the Philippine Blind Union, and the Persons with Disability Affairs Office of the Quezon City Government.


To view more photos, please click the link to Kahel Press FB below:

https://www.facebook.com/kahelpress/posts/pfbid0czTxZ6dpmMRHB9gRgsi2be4cJpq5g6FnS15L9WNJa4Vac4Cb7odLMcwNcx1AbZ78l

 

The authors allow the reposting of the unaltered article along with photos provided the following is included at the end:

Text by Alvin J. Buenaventura. Photos by Shai Gondra. For more information, please visit http://filcols.blogspot.com

 

 

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